Historic funicular railway, believed to be the shortest railroad in the world.

The legendary building that needed ghostly approval before being built.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

Behind this beachfront shop lies a spectacular, colorful sea cave with an equally colorful past.

These unusual houses look like giant boats that washed ashore on a residential street.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

Smooth basaltic rocks tell a tale of ancient glacial waterfalls.

A natural dome made of volcanic glass in Inyo National Forest.

A charming desert roadside bakery that produces 10 times more bread daily than it has residents in its town.

A volcanic cone that formed over 600 years ago.

A winged-helmed, sword-brandishing tribute to German Americans.

The world's largest floating loon bobs in the lake to kick off an annual festival.

Home to a vast collection of The Wizard of Oz memorabilia and the site of an infamous theft.

Minnesota's oldest and deepest mine is now an underground physics laboratory.

One of two giant blue cockerel statues erected with an intentional double meaning.

The watery grave of an impractical idea.

This posh mansion began as a family's estate and ended as the site of a murder ripped from the pages of a pulp novel.

A bronze statue on a downtown corner honors Minneapolis's favorite career gal.

This picturesque cliffside beacon no longer calls to sailors but shines once a year in honor of a famous shipwreck.

Secret hideaway for an alternative beach experience.

Equal parts record-breaking temple to consumerism and bizarre fun park, it's more than you think it is...

Home to the Amorphophallus titanum "Corpse Flower," which is among the largest flowers in the world and also smells powerfully of rotting flesh when in bloom.

A toweringly silly piece of modern art has been delighting locals since the 1980s.

The famed architect designed this Minnesota gas station of the future with a lookout tower.